Diane Ravitch: The Death and Life of the Great American School SystemChapter 6- NCLB: Measure and PunishBy: Chloe BlauAdded to by: Alex Carlson and Lindsay Heckmann
Chapter Summary:
The focus of this chapter was No Child Left Behind. This was an act of congress that was initiated by former President George W. Bush in 2001, and was signed into law on January 8th, 2002. No Child Left Behind, or more frequently referred to as NCLB, is all about standard-based education and education reform. Bush promised that NCLB would bring about a new era of high standards, testing, and accountability. The chapter introduces the legislation, goes over the details of it, and then gets into how the legislation is not working properly. One of the issues with NCLB is that one of its goals is by the year 2014, every student must be proficient in reading and math. Now are now four years and a long ways away from obtaining that goal. The major issue that Ravitch had with NCLB was that it was indeed a nice thought, but it didn't explain how these standards would be met, and it didn't seem very realistic. Another issue was that the document used terms, such as "adequate yearly progress" and "proficiency", that it did not define, so it was somewhat unclear to the reader what the goal was. The chapter continues on discussing NCLB and the effects of this act. Ravitch ends the chapter with a pretty powerful quote: "Testing is not a substitute for curriculum and instruction. Good education cannot be achieved by a strategy of testing children, shaming educators, and closing schools" (111).
Major Points of the Chapter:
Accountability features of NCLB
NCLB was not working
Poor performing students were offered to transfer schools
Center on Education Policy (CEP) study- "restructuring" was ineffective
Goals of NCLB are out of reach
NCLB believed that low scores are caused by lazy teachers and principals
My Reaction to the Chapter:
My reaction to the chapter was not what I thought it was going to be initially. Before reading this, I had heard and somewhat of an understanding of what No Child left Behind was, but I didn't know the nitty gritty details that Ravitch goes on to discuss. Overall, I agree with what Ravitch has to say. I think that the goals that were set in NCLB, such as having EVERY SINGLE student in the United States proficient in Reading and Mathematics by the year 2014 is ludicrous. I think that NCLB needed to take smaller steps in their actions, and work as they go instead of trying to solve every problem they encountered at once. I also agree what the statement Diane Ravitch makes about testing not substituting for curriculum and instruction. I think that schools are now "teaching to the test" so much more, it is dumbing down the school curriculum and ultimately, making kids suffer through their education.
Before reading the chapter, I did not know much about No Child Left Behind. I had heard of it, of course, but did not really understand its purpose or goals. I agree with Ravitch's opinion that NCLB is outlandish. The idea of having every single student in America being proficient seems impossible. Though NCLB's goals are admirable and seek to improve student's educations, it does not provide adequate time and funds for the student's to improve. Now, NCLB is becoming more of a competition in that schools are competing to be viewed as "good schools" and are competing to receive the best test grades. With the addition of Race to the Top, schools are now forced to compete with each other because the "winner" will receive additional funding. Because schools are teaching to the tests, Ravitch's last quote is especially true when she states that "testing is not a substitue for curriculum and instruction". Schools should be teaching students the material, but instead they are teaching the students how to take a test because if they succeed, they "win" in terms of NCLB, but are they really successful in terms of preparing the students for college or post-schools careers?
Diane Ravitch: The Death and Life of the Great American School System Chapter 6- NCLB: Measure and PunishBy: Chloe BlauAdded to by: Alex Carlson and Lindsay HeckmannChapter Summary:
The focus of this chapter was No Child Left Behind. This was an act of congress that was initiated by former President George W. Bush in 2001, and was signed into law on January 8th, 2002. No Child Left Behind, or more frequently referred to as NCLB, is all about standard-based education and education reform. Bush promised that NCLB would bring about a new era of high standards, testing, and accountability. The chapter introduces the legislation, goes over the details of it, and then gets into how the legislation is not working properly. One of the issues with NCLB is that one of its goals is by the year 2014, every student must be proficient in reading and math. Now are now four years and a long ways away from obtaining that goal. The major issue that Ravitch had with NCLB was that it was indeed a nice thought, but it didn't explain how these standards would be met, and it didn't seem very realistic. Another issue was that the document used terms, such as "adequate yearly progress" and "proficiency", that it did not define, so it was somewhat unclear to the reader what the goal was. The chapter continues on discussing NCLB and the effects of this act. Ravitch ends the chapter with a pretty powerful quote: "Testing is not a substitute for curriculum and instruction. Good education cannot be achieved by a strategy of testing children, shaming educators, and closing schools" (111).
Major Points of the Chapter:
My Reaction to the Chapter:
My reaction to the chapter was not what I thought it was going to be initially. Before reading this, I had heard and somewhat of an understanding of what No Child left Behind was, but I didn't know the nitty gritty details that Ravitch goes on to discuss. Overall, I agree with what Ravitch has to say. I think that the goals that were set in NCLB, such as having EVERY SINGLE student in the United States proficient in Reading and Mathematics by the year 2014 is ludicrous. I think that NCLB needed to take smaller steps in their actions, and work as they go instead of trying to solve every problem they encountered at once. I also agree what the statement Diane Ravitch makes about testing not substituting for curriculum and instruction. I think that schools are now "teaching to the test" so much more, it is dumbing down the school curriculum and ultimately, making kids suffer through their education.
Before reading the chapter, I did not know much about No Child Left Behind. I had heard of it, of course, but did not really understand its purpose or goals. I agree with Ravitch's opinion that NCLB is outlandish. The idea of having every single student in America being proficient seems impossible. Though NCLB's goals are admirable and seek to improve student's educations, it does not provide adequate time and funds for the student's to improve. Now, NCLB is becoming more of a competition in that schools are competing to be viewed as "good schools" and are competing to receive the best test grades. With the addition of Race to the Top, schools are now forced to compete with each other because the "winner" will receive additional funding. Because schools are teaching to the tests, Ravitch's last quote is especially true when she states that "testing is not a substitue for curriculum and instruction". Schools should be teaching students the material, but instead they are teaching the students how to take a test because if they succeed, they "win" in terms of NCLB, but are they really successful in terms of preparing the students for college or post-schools careers?